Dreaming Under the Dark Sun
by Vader'sMistress
Summary: Companion piece to Ending the Cycle and Straight Line. Standing in front of his parents' tomb, he feels a sense of deja vu. Plagued by nightmares and time paradoxes, the new Kyle Reese asks himself if he can take up the mantle of his past self? Can he and Allison Young take on his son and his wife? Or are they bound to repeat their former selves' mistakes? #3 in No Fate series


**This came out longer than I intended but I'm happy with the result.**

 **And this also comes after I came from the doctor and he gave me some GOOD news regarding the heavy burn on my back. I suffered from second and first degree burns and let me tell you, those are a bitch. Especially the former and it has been half a year of wishing to contain myself, and biting my lips from screaming and locking myself in my bedroom so nobody would see me as a cry-baby (Yes I can be like Sarah Connor and Daenerys Targaryen at times. I cheer others, and speak bluntly when I feel like it, but I don't like others see me at my lowest point, so when I felt deep excruciating pain, I would read and bite my lip to keep myself from screaming. One great outlet for me was science fiction, fantasy and history, and fanfiction. When I went to see Terminator Genysis, I was ready to cry when the theater lights went off. I was getting worse, I was bleeding i every therapy session and coming out more shaken. But then the movie started and I was really blown away. It wasn't the effects, it wasn't the car chases, it was the emotion in the movie; it was the characters and for a second I forgot that I was a monster and did not feel deformed). So my thanks to Terminator and here you go! (Leave a review!)**

 **Song: Run by Rhodes (Reign Soundtrack)**

* * *

 ** _"Do you remember where you used to run?  
Sometimes I think alone_**  
 ** _I dream under the sun_**  
 ** _And I know it's a long, long time ago_**  
 ** _But I miss it, I miss it so_**

 ** _(Hold, hold down to the world_**  
 ** _hold, hold on to your sun)_**

"Grandma." John greeted her, showing her the same smile he showed his mother before he pierced her flesh when she and that relic of hers confronted him. "Good to see you. I hope they are treating you well. Jacob asks for you. He still loves you."

"Get out."

"That is no way to greet your grandson."

"You are not my grandson. You are a thing. A fucking construct, Sky Net grew you in a fucking lab and now it's unleashed you to humanity."

"You're wrong, I was born out of my mother just as everyone else. What Sky Net did to me was make me better. It gave me the opportunity to be part of something greater."

"Something greater? You call this greatness? You know John, now that you are so respectable and have those two brats with you, I think you are more dangerous. I prefer you when you were just Sky Net's slave."

"You did not know me back then Grandma and I was never its slave. Sky Net knew it was losing, and it made sure that if it lost, everything would be given to me. I am Sky Net's triumph."

"You are nothing and you will die as nothing. And if you think you can intimidate me with your threats, spare breath, saliva or whatever it is you have now. I am not intimidated by the likes of you."

"I didn't come here to threaten you, I simply hoped that you would see thins my way."

She snickered. "I would rather die."

"I can arrange that." John said.

"Someone's always going to be looking out for me." Brigid told her grandson. "In this life or the next John, I am not going to go away." She leaned forward, sliding her arms across the metal table. "You will see my face before this is over. God will have its vengeance upon you. He will make you suffer and take everything as you took everything away from me."

"Does your god know of my rage? Does he know what he took from me? My mother was always hesitant to talk to me about religion, when she did, she always told me be wary of false prophets. I had a man on my team who believed with all his heart that Sky Net was the devil and fought valiantly, nobly and he died. People said that I was a prophet too. The only person who never took those words to heart was your son, my dad. Kyle Reese." He finally sat down.

"Don't you dare speak his name. You butchered my son. You are the reason I am here in this psychiatric hospital!"

"No grandma you did that yourself."

"Don't call me that!"

"I am giving you the chance to be part of something special. As I said, Jacob still loves you. You can be with him and with us, me and Kate and Janey. We can be the family you always dreamed of."

"I would rather die in nuclear fire."

John chuckled. "Didn't they tell you? They changed the rules of the game. I am no longer the white knight, I am the sole King. So take your best shot Joan of Arc" He said mockingly, laughing harder. "Wait and see what the doctors will say when I tell them that you were the one responsible behind Kyle Reese' delusions of grandeur."

"I did not tell him to kill his children. You did that all on your own when you infected their mother. Kyle was too weak to see the truth, but I have never been. I have always seen through you. You won't get away with this; soon everyone will see you for what you really are."

"They are not going to listen to the rantings of crazy woman." John said seriously. "You should really consider it, Kyle should not live his life without his mother."

At the mention of her son, Brigid became livid. "If you touch one hair of his I swear before the Almighty I will find whatever chord it is that makes you work and pull the plug on you."

"Good luck with that. Your God only knows that many have tried and they have all failed, including past Kyle. But don't worry grandma, I won't make the same mistake with this Kyle. I am going to make him into me."

"What?" Brigid shot up from her seat. "No, you can't do this! He is the only thing that I have left."

Her Kyle, transformed into a monster! The thought was too unbearable. She dropped to her knees and lowered her head, unwilling to look a the monster in the eye.

John found the whole spectacle amusing. He leaned forward and placed his hand on her shoulder. "That's exactly why I am doing this, so you won't have to live through the loss of another son. Your son, my dad will be well taken care of and he, Kate, my siblings and I will be the family that we were always meant to be."

"Kate?! How did you?" Her voice broke, realizing what he'd done. "You unimaginable bastard." She pushed him away. "You couldn't have her in your own timeline so you had to have her here! You are no better than that thing that attacked you!"

"Sky Net didn't attack me. It changed me and now I am going to change Kyle for the better. My new humanity will no longer be plagued by the mistakes of the past, it will be better. Free of sin, sickness, doubt. It will be everything God intended when he created Eden."

"Please leave my son alone. You took my other son, my other Kyle when you infected his wife and manipulated him into thinking you were his friend. You took everything away from him!" She went down on her knees and joined her hands in prayers, trying not to cry. "Please!" She begged, mentally praying to God to free her of this torment. He had not helped Kyle when she asked Him to. He had not been there when her husband suffered that heart attack a week after his funeral, He had not been there when she cried in Kyle Reese's tomb –her son from the future- and asked Him why was it that He allowed for so much injustice to happen?

 _You let that man take my son from me, please Lord, you can't let him take this Kyle too_! But God did not hear her prayers because as she heard John's heavy footsteps, becoming louder by the second and when he knelt next to her, she understood that her God was no more real than the Gods her husband prayed to when they showed them their future son's corpse.

 _"_ _I can't let go." Brigid told Patrick. "You must pray to them. I tried to help him, to teach him the truth because he wouldn't listen to me in the future and my Kyle doesn't listen to me as well. I know what you two think. You think I am a raving lunatic. But I am not. You've seen what our grandson becomes. That's what's going to happen to our other grandchildren as well. They are going to end up like him."_

 _"_ _No, they are not. Part of them is still human. Look Brigid, I know that you are scared and I honestly can't blame you. I am scared too, but I have seen a glimmer of hope in them. Please just listen to me, don't go." He said lifting his hand as if begging her for an audience. Brigid knew that her husband wasn't as strong as he pretended to be. And Kyle was like him. Both of them were. Her Kyle pretended to be strong but he always hesitated. And the Kyle from the future, a man he'd come to love more than her son from this timeline, did as he was told, without a thought in the world whether his actions were right or wrong. But he hesitated whenever it came to his mentor, father figure and savior. After John Connor had told him that he was his son, Kyle became more obsessed with helping him.  
Oh, he had destroyed him the first time around for sure! But when he found that he survived, he started obsessing over new ways to save him. Eventually it became too much for him and Sarah, and Sarah divorced him. Then she landed herself in that hospital and Kyle had to be her knight in shining armor once more.  
Brigid sometimes wondered what it was that Kyle saw in Sarah Connor. The girl was nothing special, other than being the mother of the 'savior'. She had been placed in his path by John Connor.  
Brigid was glad when her Kyle told her after he'd come from his two year service in the Marines, that he had found someone special. Allison Young, a recent graduate from UCLA who'd come to live in San Francisco to be with her boyfriend. Brigid met Allison; she found the girl lacking certain qualities. But she was entirely devoted to her son, and Kyle loved her._

 _"_ _We can make this work. As long as we keep our distance from Connor, he won't suspect a thing. We can change things." He stressed but Brigid shook her head. No, they could not. Fate had already dealt a heavy blow taking her son away from her. Patrick and Kyle were all that she had left, and if everything happened as it was meant to happen, then she would live long enough to watch them die as well._

And she wasn't wrong. Her husband died a week after the funeral. Heart attack, they said. But Brigid knew better, she tried to warn her son to leave San Francisco and take Allison with him but he didn't listen. He thought she was crazy too and when the cops came to her house to ask her some questions, he didn't move a muscle for her. She screamed and begged them to let her call her son, to tell him everything else that was going to happen before the end of days but they just laughed in her face and put her in this hell-hole.

John placed his arms around his grandmother, pulling her into a close embrace. "Grandma, this is for the best. You know humanity is lost. Look at what we've done to our planet, what we've done to us."

"Do not speak to me as if you are part of us, you are not."

"I am and very soon everyone else will be part of my new world. I am mindful of the risks, there will be many who will rebel and those will be dealt with ... mercifully."

 ** _"Where were do we run?_**  
 ** _Run, run_**  
 ** _So far from each other!_**

"No." She broke down in tears, sobbing as she thought of the future her son would be part of. _Christ oh Lord, it can't end like this!_

She thought of the conversation she had with Patrick before he died. " _When does it end?_ "

 _"I suppose it never does as long as there is humanity." Patrick said. "But then again, that is what makes us, us. And I wouldn't trade it for the world."_

 _"So you agree."_

 _"No, I said that I don't trust Connor but what you did Brigid, was careless. The children are not evil, I've seen it and I know you too but you are too proud to admit your mistake."_

 _"It's not a mistake Patrick. I have seen what they can do."_

 _"That doesn't change who they are. When Hercules was born, his jealous stepmother sought to destroy him because of who his parent was."_

 _"This is not the same Patrick and you know it."_

 _"Is it not? Two children who have inherited their powers via their godly brother-"_

 _"Don't blasphemy!"_

 _"They are no different."_ Her husband said, ignoring her minor interruption. _"Strong, intelligent, capable ... posses other great gifts ... They're just the same. And with luck, if your little action hasn't destroyed them, they won't end up like Hercules."_

 _"I just wanted to end it, this cycle once and for all."_

 _"I know but the truth is you worsened it. There are other ways to attack Connor, that was not the right one."_

She smiled sadly. "Every _time we attack Connor, we create more enemies."_

 _"_ _Then I suppose we will be surrounded by many of them. The important thing is we don't give up."_ He paused. _"Even if it is us against the world, we still have Kyle and Kyle will end what you started ... the right way."_ He said, smiling at her before he died.

Her husband was right, they had to end Connor. But she didn't believe that they could save their younger grandchildren. They were part of Connor, and as long as they lived, humanity would never be safe.

"Kyle is never going to join you. And Allison knows about you, she's had dreams too. She knows what happens in the other futures, what Sky Net does to her, the model it sends to protect you and how you played right into her rogue robots' hands. She knows that is what made Sky Net take the decision to kill everyone else in every timeline and make you into what you are today, fulfilling the prophecy of St. John."

John grinned. "That prophecy is no more real than the one about my mother of me being the savior of mankind. You know you've lost grandma."

"Don't call me that! I am not your grandmother!"

"You are and I wish you could see sense." He pushed her slightly back and shifted his arm into a blade.

"I am sorry it had to come to this. But it is the only way. Doctor Silberman will agree. Your so called son, taught you everything about hacking, you somehow reached some of your pals from the outside, told them to get you out, they failed and you went into a demented state and asked them to give you a knife and convinced that Judgment day was coming, you killed yourself."

"Nobody will believe that." She said, her voice trembling, crawling backwards until her back hit the wall.

 _Christ …_ She thought as she saw John advancing to her. _This is really it. This is the end._

 ** _Oh, is it love?_**  
 ** _Love, love!_**  
 _ **So hard to remember!**_

She heard her husband's voice again. _"Then I suppose it will go on for a long time."_ It would. The battle was far from over, Sky Net was far from beaten and Kyle would not rest until he found a way to redeem his friend, his mentor because like the old Kyle, he had the memories of his other past lives and knowing what he knew now, he would focus all his energies on ending the evil that had taken over him and his younger children.

She said "Amen" and looked up at her murderous grandson. Patrick believed that there was a glimmer of hope when he looked into IT's eyes. But she knew better.

She shut her eyes. She did not want to see this monster in the eye when it struck the blow, but as she felt him approach, she remembered what she told the future Kyle, the day before he killed his wife. "You mustn't cry. You must be strong, for your wife and your children. One day we will meet in heaven and be merry."

She would not cry. She would face death in the eye. Opening her eyes, she looked into the thing's eyes and saw many lifetimes in where she and Patrick died young and her son was left off to fend for himself. In all of those timelines, he had someone with him. In one he had his older brother who had survived his third birthday and traveled back in time to protect his son, in another he had his dog, and in other he had Allison. In all of them though, he found Connor.

 _The devil is always in the details._ As the man lifted his blade, Brigid steeled herself and wiped the tears off her eyes. _Let it be quick._ She wished to tell him. But then she remembered St. Joan of Arc and other female saints who'd faced similar fates. They didn't flinch, they didn't scream, they went to their deaths valiantly.

 _So will I._

 _I must be strong as Esther was when she confronted Haman._

She lifted her head to the sky and said one short prayer then she went still and she felt the blade pierce through her heart and she knew no more.

The last word that John heard from her lips was before her body went limp was "Amen".

* * *

 _ **"But I'm tired now  
Tired and outgrown**_  
 ** _We never did, we never did walk alone_**  
 ** _So hold, hold down to the world_**  
 ** _Hold, hold on to your sun_**

Kyle sighed putting down a knot, the knot of Athena as his father called it when his witch friends made it, on top of his tombstone then unwrapped the rosary that his mother had given the other him. But as he was about to place it on her tombstone, he hesitated. His mother had loved that Kyle beyond anything or anyone, and it caused a resentment in him. Not so much because of her love for him, but because she trusted him with her secrets.

And then there was Sarah Connor. He saw her for the first time at the police station, she traced a lien through his palm and he immediately knew that she was his one true love. He tried getting close to her, asking about her to the other him, but he never gave a clear answer. How could he, when it was clear as day that he still loved her. When he learned of her death, he grew angry at his mother. He wanted to grab Grant's gun and shoot at the other him for being so stupid as to believe their mother's lies and then his mother, but when he saw the future Kyle's corpse, he realized that everything his mother had been telling him and his father was real.

Connor was the devil, but not in the way she thought. He was something more fearsome than the two horned creature he had been taught to fear in Sunday school. He was more like the Hades of his father's gods, a man so handsome and respectable that he would take the world by storm with his charm alone.

"I promise you mother, I will make things right." He turned to his dad. "I always failed in every other timeline, but not this time." If John Connor could change the rules of the game, then so could he.

He got in the car. Allison was driving, she had never learned to drive from her mother. Her mother was always very over-protective of her and after Allison's aunt died in a car-accident, she was more reluctant to let her behind the wheel of a car. Allison always had a way to get what she wanted though, and she was very good at bypassing her mother's orders. And when she met Kyle she became more curious. At first Kyle wasn't sure if she was mocking him, but it became obvious that she believed him. She said after on long night of love making that she also had dreams and so did her mother but she didn't believe in fate or any of that shit, so she dismissed them as mere illusions.

Kyle turned on the radio. When Allison told him of her dreams, he didn't know what to think. The other him taught him about guns, and he let Sarah school him about using other weapons. So his first reaction was to shoot Allison and demand answers, like where did she come from? But seeing the way she smiled and looked at him with such devotion, he knew that there was no way she could be metal.

"I thought you hated Elton John after what that crazy machine did."

"I do, but you know the phrase get to know your enemy and besides, he didn't get all of my mother. She left some recordings before they locked her up in that institution." He showed them to her at a stop and played them. They contained everything the other him had told her.

"Wow, we can have a chance to win this time!" Allison said cheerfully. Kyle smiled back, but he was experiencing a lot of doubt. He was twenty five, in every other timelines, he died at that age when he went back in time to sire John and save Sarah from the Terminator that was sent back to kill her. Now that, that was over, what more was there for him? Was he going to take up the former savior's mantle and become the new savior?

No. It had to be something else. His mother believed that fate was fate and that was that. His father on the other hand believed that there was always a chance of redemption. He believed that his son from the future could be redeemed. Kyle did not know what to believe. The only thing he knew for certain was that he was going to end John or John was going to end him, and that was the way it was going to be.

For Allison though, this was the chance of having what she could never have: Kyle Reese. Father of the future no longer. In every other life, she had always been jealous because she had to compete with a ghost, but now that Sarah was gone, she didn't have to compete anymore. He was all hers and whatever happened, they would confront it together.

* * *

"John Connor is not that smart. His siblings are not that far from where we live. Perhaps he is testing us."

"Or maybe he is watching us, to see what we are going to do." Kyle said walking to the window, he pushed the drapes slightly open to see what the commotion was. They lived next to a big group of students whom Kyle guessed belonged to a fraternity because they were always partying and as a result there was always screaming and loud music. Tonight was no different. Kyle was tempted to call the cops but then he thought against it. The louder noise they made, the less his other neighbors next door would complain about the loud noises he and Allison made.

"That is exactly what I said." She said taking one piece of chocolate from the box they'd bought yesterday. "So … are you going to tell me about Mrs. Anti-Christ's visit?"

Kyle allowed himself a small smile and went back to bed. "She just said things."

"Yeah right, things. Oh, ah. Ha, ha, come on Kyle you know I am not thick-headed. What did she tell you? Did she promise wealth beyond your wildest dreams, to be a family like your deluded devil child promised the other you if you join them?"

"It wasn't like … Nevermind … You'd never understand …" Seeing Allison's hurt expression he chose his words more carefully but Allison beat him to it.

"Right, because I am just another ghost of your would-be-future." She said with a wry expression. "Look Kyle, we die in every other timeline. You die in 2029 or 1984 if you want to get technical and I die a year before that. But we are here now, proof that fate is not written in stone."

"Maybe we won't live past tomorrow, have you thought about that? Look at the other me, he died still young and is remembered as a lunatic. I have to tell people that I am not him, that he was some distant relative but I can't help but be compared to him. My mom always compared me to him. I wasn't there when they came for her. I didn't speak on her behalf when they took her to the looney bin. I just ignored her."

"What happened to your mom is not your fault. She knew the risks and she left you this because she knows how important it is that we preserve humanity."

He touched her cheek. "Thanks for everything Allison. I was seeking answers and now I found them." He said, feeling truly grateful for having her by his side, but when he looked into her eyes, he didn't see her.

 ** _"Where were do we run?_**  
 ** _Run, run_**  
 ** _so far from each other!_**  
 ** _Oh, is it love?_**  
 ** _Love, love,_**  
 **so hard to remember**

He tried very hard to convince himself that it wasn't fate, that it was something else. But he dreamed of her constantly since he saw her in the police station. The first thought that came to his mind when he saw her was God, how beautiful she was and could she be his? But she was not his, she belonged to the other Kyle and that is the other thing he felt regarding his other self: jealousy. He could have the woman he loved, the woman that was always meant for him, and he was stuck with a poor replacement.

He loved Allison alright, but he always felt empty after every love session. And he was always haunted by the memories of his past life. Fire, death, a white blind light and … ** _her_**.

~o~

Was it fate that his parents always fell in love? It was obvious that he had a different father in his first incarnation, but his parents still managed to find each other in every timeline. Or maybe it was the first John and first Kyle Reese's actions that screwed up the timeline and created the John he was now.

As surreal as it sounded, John wished it was the former. His mother always cried at night, reminiscing about the man she loved and his death had left a big impression in her life, and a big hole in her heart that no amount of devotion he had for her could fill.

He turned his back from the sight. The two were so into each other that they didn't notice him. Or perhaps they did, and just did it on purpose to make him suffer. Yet John could not back away. There was his father with the woman who had been the bane of his existence, as her Terminator, in other timelines. But dad was with her, seeing Sarah in his eyes. He wanted to kill the two of them, first his dad for betraying his mother and then Allison for being where she wasn't called to again but he remembered his promise. A promise he made to himself. He was not going to kill Kyle. While the other died as a result of his own madness, he was going to save this one. As for Allison … there was no reason for her to live except for the fact that his father clearly felt something for her. But was it strong enough to withstand what was coming?

* * *

Another day at work. Kyle pulled the truck into the only open space. People were such assholes. Two minutes late and all because some asshole dumped a couch in the middle of traffic. Really? A couch in the middle of freaking traffic? He shook his head mentally. Stupid, really.

His boss Roger gave him a bad time. Kyle sat down and looked through his paperwork. There were so many things he'd left unattended. It was a miracle that he hadn't been fired yet. Was it thanks to the powers that be that his father believed in, or better yet, his mother's god, or even better yet, John Connor? He preferred not to think about it. After one long night of lovemaking with Allison, he had enough of thinking. Allison left early for work as well. She worked in the women's shelter where her mother was well know. Ms. Young had spent a great deal of her life helping the less fortunate, partially because her parents had been ones themselves. And Allison was only too happy to show the world that there was still a lot of faith to be hand in humanity.

He had to give it to her. Kyle's faith in humanity was diminishing more and more. Some colleagues at work gave him the standard 'sorry your mother died' and others 'hey she is in a better place' but what they really meant is 'we are glad you don't have to deal with that crazy bitch anymore'.

He felt his left pocket vibrate. Roger would kill him if he found him talking on his cell, but who the fuck cared anymore? "Hello?"

"Is this the elusive Kyle Reese?"

Shit! "Relax Mr. Reese, this is not a prank call from my husband. I want us to meet."

"Hey, look, I will tell you what I told you last time, no fucking way." He hissed. "Now, stop calling me." He was about to tap on the end symbol when Kate said something that caught his attention.

"You can have her, you know. Sarah Connor. I know that you've been dreaming of her. We can make your dreams come true."

"And who is we? You, John, or the two kids you have as prisoners? You can tell John what I told you last time, he can go fuck himself." He said and ended the call.

He passed his hands through his dark brown hair. What was he going to do? His mother left a lot of information, but how was he going to act on it? Allison had pretty good ideas where to start, but with everyone associating him with the crazy guy who murdered his wife, father in law and nearly took out his children as well, it would be near impossible to avoid detection. And he wasn't going to let Allison risk herself for chasing something that they might not achieve.

* * *

"Fuck! Fuck this!" He swore under his breath. This was pure madness. He drove near the children's school. Security was tight in that place. He waited until the bell rang to make his move. When he only saw the boy leave, he waited but the girl never came out. Sighing hard, he got out of the truck and advanced to him but in the middle of his trek, he stopped when he turned to face him.

"Daddy?"

He took his hand out of his pocket. No gun. Just his plan hand. The boy ran to him and wrapped his arms around him. "It is you. The other you. I knew you'd come. Janey was skeptic but I always knew that you'd come to visit me."

 _Visit, yeah. If only you knew._ "Are you going to take me home?"

"Umm … Yeah." He took the kid into his truck and parked outside the apartment complex. He had been here before, when he was spying on Connor and Kate with Allison. But this was the first time he came to appreciate the building. It was big and it would take more than a handful of homemade detonators to bring it down.

"You want to accompany me? Janey shouldn't be home for another two hours. She has ballet and a recital."

"Why aren't you there? You must miss your family." Kyle said, walking inside the elevator, holding the boy's hand.

"I don't know. I don't like them, they are boring but John and Kate always insist on going. They went to Spain last week. It was their first soccer match. Did you play soccer?"

"I did. You seem to know a lot about where John and Kate go." He said, feeling strange talking to this kid. Biologically he was his son, but he hadn't raised him. The other Kyle had, yet he felt that connection with him.

"Do you know where they will be tomorrow?" He asked then knitted his eyebrows in confusion seeing the boy's sad expression. "What's wrong?"

"My brother says I am not supposed to talk to strangers."

"But I am no stranger. I am your dad and you are my little boy. If I was a stranger you wouldn't have trusted me to take you home." He said, feeling sick to the pit of his stomach that he was playing Connor's game.

"You can tell me anything." He assured the little boy sitting next to him in the couch facing the big screen plasma TV.

"Kate won't like it if she finds out. She is stricter than John."

"Is she mean to you?"

"Never. She is nice, she gives me candy and lets me stay up all night. I enjoy spending time with her, she never misses a night where she doesn't read to me. Janey used to do it, but she is too busy with her new friends." Then he said "She would be very disappointed if I told you."

"But we already established we are not strangers, bud. You can trust me." He pressed on, tipping his chin so he made eye contact with him and see for himself that he was being honest.

But the boy was not swayed. "I'm sorry." He said. "I made a promise to Kate, and I intend to keep it. Besides you can come here whenever they're here and we can watch movies and …" He went on talking about boring stuff that Kyle had no use for but then he said something that made his eyes widen.

"Wait, rewind there. What did you say?"

"Kate's cupcakes. She puts on sprinkles on them and John tries to help her but one time the oven nearly exploded. It was so embarrassing and Jane was laughing so hard that made John scowl and-"

"No, no, I meant what did you say before that?"

"Oh, Athena's knot?" Kyle nodded. The boy shrugged. "It's nothing. Something daddy taught me before he and mommy separated."

"Show me."

The boy did, his six year old hands showing more skill than any man **_he_** knew. And what surprised him was that he used the same technique his father used. That he used! _Shit!_ Was this some part of Sky Net's programming or was this John Connor fucking up with them some more?

"You like it?" Kyle nodded, not knowing what to feel when he placed it on his hands. "Wait up, I have some more I made. I try and teach my sister but Janey is too lazy. She prefers stupid parties." He ran to his room then came up with many more. All in different shapes, but their purpose was the same. A totem to protect the wearer.

"H-Have you … shown John these?"

Jacob shook his head. "Why not?" Jacob thought well for a second then answered him. "John says I should focus on my studies. Science, computers, biology, that kind of stuff. He says I am very important."

"What does Kate, I mean your brother's wife say?"

"Kate lets me teach her. She is very kind. When she is not playing with John, she stays with me and tells me stories about her past life." He repeated, doing another knot for him.

 **"And the silence where your heart is**  
 **beats in mine**  
 **And you thwarted my disguise**  
 **Oh where do we run?**  
 **Run, run so far from each other?**

Had the nanites done something other than made them 'better' but also allowed them to tap into ancient memories? He read something about that when he took a class in genetics. Most of his friends expressed interest in going into genetic engineering now that the human genome was nearly mapped, and there were so many companies around the world hiring new talent. But not Kyle. After what he'd experienced, he didn't want anything to do with that field. So he stuck with being a doctor. The plan had been that he would be a pediatrician but during his last semester, his nightmares got worse. His father was against it, but his mother agreed with his decision. He enlisted in the Marines. Did his service, returned and got a job as an office clerk. Again, not his ideal dream but what were you going to do when your last name was Reese and you were the father of the fucking anti-Chirst, and two hybrid children? You were destiny's chew toy. But while there, he renewed his interest in genetic engineering, in nano-technology. Two different fields but they were not that hard to tackle as he thought. According to many theoretical scientists, the field was so dangerous because DNA was not something you could play with. You take some genes and you are left with something else. And then there is the brain. A place where anything is possible. Was it possible that the nanites unlocked some part of the children's brain? John Connor was Sky Net's perfect creation, it stood to reason that he infected his mother for the purpose of making sure that her offspring would be his slaves. But what if they had also brought an unexpected benefit? What if they had also unlocked some part of their brains that could allow them to unlock those memories?

 _Evolution._ Except evolution wasn't necessary progressive. Spencer had stolen Darwin's phrase and said it was survival of the fittest, in reality Darwin said _survival of the most adapted._ In his celebratory book, _Origin of the Species,_ Charles Darwin noted that species change through time. This process was slow and it generally took millions of years and every time a species changed, it was so its organism would adapt to its ever-changing environment. Those that didn't adapt, or refused to adapt, became extinct. But Sky Net had changed the rules of the games. It made a god. A being who was neither man nor machine. A being with the capability of destroying everything on its path.

And it already had –with the other Kyle and his children. When it infected Sarah Connor, it transmitted its nano-particles into her bloodstream, ensuring that his siblings would be like him. But they were not. There were similarities (for sure) but there were also differences. And his father was right. (Kyle wanted to cry, thinking of his father). One good look at Kyle's son and he knew.

John Connor's Legacy was a lie. The children were human. They were under Connor's control but the part that made them, them; was still there.

He instinctively put a hand on Jacob's heart. He laughed, a tear escaped from his left eye. A heartbeat. He was alive.

Jacob tilted his head. "Daddy? You ok?"

"Yes … Yes, I am." Now, he thought. He kissed his cheek and said goodbye and rushed out of the apartment. He couldn't kill him. His mother had been wrong, the salvation did not lay in their destruction, but in their survival.

 _Death pays for life._ His father was always so fond of saying when he lost his first pets to explain the concept of death to his four year old son. He was a neo-pagan, he believed as the old Greeks and Celts, that there was a price to pay for everything you did. Sort of like Karma, except that he was wrong. So was his mother.

John grinned. "This was interesting." Kate said, looking from their car at the figure of Kyle Reese running to his truck. There was a look of joy and relief on his face. They had left Janey at her best friend's house; John was usually not so lenient but Kate convinced him to let her stay at her friend's house. It was time she started having some independence, and her friend was the daughter of another great general like her father. It's purely strategic –she told John.  
"Who knew there was reason behind your father's thick skull?" Kate said grinning back at John.

"Who knew indeed." John said, deeply intrigued by Reese's change of heart.

"There is still a chance he will try something stupid. It's what the other him would have done."

"He is not the other him, Kate. This Kyle has had similar experiences, but for some reason he's come to a different conclusion. And then there is Allison…" He paused. He had been contemplating on killing her to bring Kyle to his breaking point, but something always stopped him.

 **"Oh, is it love?**  
 **Love, love so hard to remember!**  
 **Oh, where do we run,**  
 **Run, run so far from each other?**  
 **Oh is it love?**  
 **Love, love so hard to remember?"**

Was it familiarity? No. It was something else, something he hadn't factored in.

Kate put her hand on top of his that was resting on the wheel. "If this is what brings us together, then so be it. We are a family, no matter what we must remain strong."

John smiled, the first kind smile she'd ever seen on him that wasn't for Jacob or Janey. "Strong." She repeated and leaned forward, sharing a deeply passionate kiss.

They belonged together. The two born on the same day. It was fate. John hated that word, but it was true. They were meant to be, it was why John turned her. It took her so long to understand, but she was glad that she finally came to terms with her destiny. Without her, John was nothing and without John, she was nothing. The two were one half of each other.

John breathed in her scent. It was an illusion. They could imitate everything from image to smell, but it felt so real and being lost in her again, brought him so many good memories of their times together in their past life.

Strong. She'd said. He would, for them, for their family, and for humanity. Because humanity needed him, because they needed a strong leader who could save them and he would be that for them and much more. He would usher in a new age, an age where everyone would be free to pursue his or her own path, free of disease, hatred and resentment. The world would be what he wanted it to be, and everything would finally be perfect.


End file.
